An Amish Summer by Shelley Shepard GrayAmy ClipstonKathleen FullerKelly Irvin
Published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing on June 6th 2017
Genres: Amish & Mennonite, Christian, Clean & Wholesome, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
A new novella collection of sweet, summer romances from some of our favorite Amish authors!A Reunion in Pinecraft by Shelley Shepard GrayWhen sisters Sharon and Sherilyn Kramer attend a wedding in Shipshewana, one of them returns with a new penpal while the other returns to her job at the bakery. After sending weekly letters back and forth, Sherry and Graham Holland arrange a reunion in Pinecraft. Upon Graham’s arrival, however, he realizes he’s been writing to the wrong sister. He decides to use the reunion as a way to get to know both sisters, but can he sort through the confusion in time to turn the worst vacation ever into something truly wonderful?Summer Storms by Amy ClipstonAriana is counting down the days until her wedding to Jesse. They have been friends longer than Arianna can remember, and that friendship turned into love over the past couple of years. But when Arianna’s brother Tobias, who happens to be Jesse’s best friend, gets them both into trouble, Arianna’s father puts an end to her engagement to Jesse. Some summer storms pass quickly, but Arianna is afraid the damage from this one may be too much to repair.Lakeside Love by Kathleen FullerEsther has always lived in the shadow of her beautiful younger sister Sarah. Even the boy she has known—and loved—her entire life, Judah, only has eyes for Sarah. But when a handsome young Englischer comes to live with the family for a summer, everything begins to change.One Sweet Kiss by Kelly IrvinEverybody in little Bee County, Texas, can see the obvious: Jacob King and Martha Byler are meant to be together. Everyone, that is, but Martha. Ever since her mother died when Martha was a young girl, she has taken over the role of caregiver to her large family. And reckless Jacob, who has had a little too much fun on his rumspringa, only seems to add to the list of people to manage. But one summer changes everything, and these two may just find a way to meet in the middle and share one sweet kiss.
Most of you know that I’m a blogger with the Fiction Guild’s Elite Reader Program. I am very fortunate for this association because I’m able to receive a lot of different books that I wouldn’t ordinarily hear about or see on the shelf. Today’s book is collection of four novellas by four of my mother’s favorite authors – Shelley Shepard Gray, Amy Clipton, Kathleen Fuller and Kelly Irvin. In fact, I since I knew my mom would love this one so I shipped it to her to read, and here’s her report:
“The common thread that An Amish Summer: Four Novellas by Shelley Shepard Gray, Amy Clipston, Kathleen Fuller, and Kelly Irvin has is that they are four wonderful stories that share the theme of summertime.
The first novella is A Reunion in Pinecraft by Shelley Shepard Gray. Both Sisters Sherry and Sharon Kramer attended a wedding where they met Graham Holland. Sherry Kramer has been writing to Graham Holland for over six months and was looking forward to meeting him again in Pinecraft, Florida, having fun on the beaches, and hoping for a summer romance. (And you can bet we were checking out the map to see exactly where Pinecraft, Florida is located. We learned that Pinecraft is a small neighborhood community of approximately 3,000 Amish and Mennonites located in Sarasota, Florida.)
Anyway, Sherry, Sharon, and two best friends plan the trip to Pinecraft and Graham and two of his friends will be arriving also. Everyone had rented rooms and would be staying two weeks at the Orange Blossom Inn. But when Graham sees Sherry, he knows he has been writing to the wrong sister. How does he tell both Sherry and Sharon about his mistake?
There is a lot of twist and turns that makes this story very interesting as one of Graham’s friends Toby has expressed his interest in one of the sisters. This is a beautiful sweet love story.
The second novella is Summer Storms by Amy Clipston. Ariana Smucker and Jess Zook knew each other from childhood, fell in love, and was getting married in five months. Ariana’s brother Tobias was best friends with Jess.
Tobias gets them both into trouble. Jess is blamed by Ariana’s father Marvin Smucker. He was upset with Jess and cancelled the engagement and forbid Jess to see Ariana. As this summer storm came about so quickly, will Marvin Smucker learn what really happen that rainy night and forgive Jess? Will there be a wedding? I loved the way Amy Clipston brings everything together for a great ending.
The third story is Lakeside Love by Kathleen Fuller: This story begins with Ester Coblentz watching Judah King a hired farm worker as he worked the fields with her father and her brother Reuben. She told herself that her younger sister Sara was pretty and the talented one, and the one Judah was in love with.
Ester had known Judah all of her life and loved him but she always walked in Sara’s shadow. She was shy and did not show her feelings since he only had eyes for Sara. One day Ester’s father and mother announced that an English college student would be staying with them for a month. His name was Rhett. With Rhett and Judah working together there were a lot of changes taking place.
Will Judah ever realize the love Ester has for him? Will Sara take an interest in Rhett? This is a wonderful love story and I enjoyed this one the best of the four stories.
The fourth and last story is One Sweet Kiss by Kelly Irvin. This story takes us back to Bee County, Texas where everyone thinks that Jacob King and Martha Byler should be together as a couple. Kelly Irvin makes these characters so lovable right from the beginning.
Martha’s mother died when she was very young, she had to take care of her very large family for most of her life. Martha is interested in Jacob but he is reckless, bad behaviors, likes to have too much fun on his rumspringa, and she does not want another child to manage. Jacob lost his mother at a young age also. They have a lot to talk about.
Can Jacob show Martha that he is ready to be the man that she wants? Will Jacob join the church with Martha in the spring? This is a wonderful love story.”
Overall, this was a very good compilation of stories by some of my favorite authors. It was great to catch-up with some of the characters taken from the author’s series. The characters are well written and their life experiences are relatable to readers. I am really looking forward to the next collection of novellas coming out this fall for Christmas called “An Amish Christmas Love“!
I received a paperback copy of this book without cost from the publisher through The Fiction Guild, a Thomas Nelson/Zondervan Elite Reader book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own, or in this case, my mom’s.
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